The Republican Senate candidate Thad Cochran, left, and Senator John McCain, at a campaign rally in Jackson, Miss., on Monday.CreditCreditAaron Phillips for The New York Times

By Theodore Schleifer

June 23, 2014

JACKSON, Miss. — The Republican Senate candidates Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel on Monday continued to make their case to Mississippi voters as part of their closing arguments before Tuesday’s runoff election.

About 100 supporters here waved American flags as Senator John McCain of Arizona jumped on the campaign trail with Mr. Cochran to address veterans’ issues. He spoke at the Mississippi War Memorial Building, which had the inscription, “Remember the dead too have voices.” Mr. Cochran’s surrogates pitched the incumbent senator’s record to fellow former service members.

Mr. Cochran, returning to a theme he struck in an appearance in Biloxi on Sunday, promoted his foreign policy experience during the event with Mr. McCain.

“Not only the eyes of the nation, the eyes of the world will be on this election tomorrow,” Mr. McCain said.

On Sunday, the two campaigns held dueling rallies less than 10 miles apart in Biloxi, appealing to the 40,000 veterans living along the coast. Fewer than 3,000 votes separated the two candidates in the June 3 primary.

In this beach town, where a veterans hospital, a veterans retirement community and an Air Force base sit alongside the casinos, Mr. Cochran and Mr. McDaniel tried to convince their crowds that they would be a better advocate for military families and shipbuilding jobs.

Representative Steven M. Palazzo, a Republican who represents southern Mississippi, spoke in support of Mr. Cochran, lauding the incumbent’s Navy service and saying it made military issues personal to him.

“He’s a fighter, but what do you expect — he’s a veteran of our nation’s military,” Mr. Palazzo said.

Mr. Cochran, 76, had expected to be joined on Sunday by Mr. McCain, a fellow Navy veteran, but Mr. McCain encountered travel problems and was not able to make the event, at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.

One challenge for Mr. Cochran, who has been a senator since 1978, may be making people aware of his military experience. He served in the Navy for three years a half-century ago, and while veterans at Mr. Cochran’s rally said his years in the armed forces had drawn them to him, some veterans at Mr. McDaniel’s Tea Party Express rally here said they did not know that Mr. Cochran had served.

During Sunday’s event, Mr. McDaniel, 41, attacked Mr. Cochran’s congressional record on military issues, criticizing him for supporting Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and for not doing enough to protect jobs at Ingalls Shipbuilding, which employs about 10,000 workers in nearby Pascagoula. Mr. McDaniel said the company had lost 14,000 jobs since Mr. Cochran took office.

“My grandfather worked at Ingalls — we have a shipbuilding legacy in my family,” Mr. McDaniel said. “I know what it means to the coast. I know what it means to my area. And, by George, we’re going to make it right again.”

Some of the veterans at Mr. McDaniel’s rally said they supported him despite Mr. Cochran’s service. Mr. McDaniel is stronger on issues that veterans care about, they said.

Luther Miller, 72, who waved a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and served during the Vietnam War, talked about the Ingalls job losses. Paul Leideg, 54, who retired from the Air Force, said he saw Mr. McDaniel as more patriotic.

“The patriotism that he’s bringing with the Tea Party right now is what really is driving a lot of military to this side,” he said.

Despite the area’s military ties and the crises broiling in the Middle East, Mr. McDaniel did not delve very deep into foreign policy here.